Happy Holidays!

All right, blogging will be slow or non-existent till the first week of January as I will be exploring wild and wonderful places. Hope they don't jail me for my compulsive spitting and littering habits.

Take care and be good. No, I'm not bringing back any cheap electronics for you.

Merry Christmas and a Happpppy new year!

Awards-that-recipients-care-least-about day

There are days and there are days. International useless days and awards-that-recipients-care-least-about days. The former on "Fly, you fools!", the latter - today. Two reasons:

1. Barack Obama - "Time person of the year"

Ok, say a man had created history by becoming the first black president of the most powerful country in its 200 odd years of freedom. How would you thrill him? What other prize would really send him over the moon? You guessed it - he don't care.

2. Sachin Tendulkar - Voted Happiest and Healthiest person in India

This is probably how his quote was taken:

Journalist: Sir, you are being voted happiest and healthiest person in full India. What you say, Sir?
ST: (If I use a negative word, these guys are going to misquote me anyway. Let me string together a statement that contains an exclamation, disbelief, re-iteration, joyous appreciation and ends with the word 'forever'.)
ST: Goodness me! Is it true? My countrymen think that I am the healthiest and happiest person in the country? What a compliment, I am truly overwhelmed. I will cherish this compliment forever.
ST: (Oh man, I think I overdid it. Hope he doesn't report my sarcasm.)
Journalist: Sir please to be taking photo with me for my daughter Chunni who is very large fan.
ST: (Phew!)

India's sexiest blogger!

All copyrights belong to respective owners of the images.

Thumbstruck!

A message from DH for Mr Rajeev Reddy - MD and supermodel, Country Club.

Dear Mr Reddy,

I was thumbing through a magazine today when I came across - you guessed it - your thumb. As a rule (of thumb), I see it at least twice a day. And frankly, it's getting out of hand.

While the opposable thumb has many uses, this is by far the most puzzling application of any thumb in India we've ever seen. And while it may be debatable whether the lateral most digit of your hand is the most attractive aspect of your personality, there certainly isn't any doubt that you've overplayed your hand.

Having been an entrepreneur myself, I can understand how tempting it must be to have a finger in every pie. However, I am of the opinion that the right time for us to desist is when we sense the world showing us the finger.

In closing, let me re-iterate in a manner you may better understand. Your ads? Two thumbs down. Take my advice. Don't burn your fingers. It's time to take matters into your own hands. Figuratively speaking.

Chennai traffic gets to ATC

Bizarre news of the day: An air traffic controller shouts at an IAF pilot to shut up.

I don't know why, but my perverse brain finds the conversation on the left insanely amusing.

On a more serious note, I don't blame this guy. The traffic in Chennai is awful. It took me a hour and a half to get from OMR to Adyar last week.

Saina Nehwal's passport

Saina Nehwal says:

I am really sad about the way they treat sportpersons in the country. I mean, it is their responsibility to take care of the sportspersons not only about cricket but other sports as well.

Don't get me wrong, the very fact that Saina Nehwal's passport was delayed is tragic. Thank goodness the MEA has decided to remedy that.

But isn't making this another one of those cricket vs other sports debates trivalizing the issue? What about all those other Indians who need their passports on time to see a beloved one for the last time or see their grandkids for the very first time? Is their urgency less important? Isn't the government supposed to take care of all its citizens? There's a bigger picture in this story that will be missed by many. What to do but? Indian citizen - चलता है, no?

Shantaram

I know, I know. It's been a few years since Shantaram debuted, but I just finished reading it this week. And yes, it's one of my favorite books of its kind. Any kind, actually.

More than the Papillon-esque storyline, I loved GDR's style of writing. Some of his quotes, much like Rushdie's, were like appreciating wine: you swirl them around in your eyes, inhale their scent with your mind, swirl them again in your thoughts and swallow them into your being till you're intoxicated beyond rescue.

One of my favorite quotes of all time is:

The lies we tell ourselves are the ghosts that haunt the empty house of midnight.

*hic*

PFB blogpost FYI

The Onion reports:

James Atkins attained complete mastery over the fine art of meaningless corporate doublespeak.

Read the full 'news' item - Manager Achieves Full Mastery Of Pointless Managerial Jargon, it's hilarious.

Previous posts on work:

• Little Red Riding Hood, my boss' version
• The advantages of seeing your boss more than your wife

The side effects of unemployment

Don't look at me, I didn't report it.

Social bookmarking as a hobby

A sad truth about me (and possibly you, if you're going through this blog)!

Homer classics

I've always been a HUGE fan of the Simpsons from the time they debuted on the erstwhile STAR Plus. Given that, it makes reading this article a fascinating trip down memory lane. Interesting factoid:

In 1992, Elizabeth Taylor voiced the first (and almost only) word ever spoken by baby Maggie. Aptly enough, it was 'Daddy!'

Some Homer classics below:

Picture courtesy: The Daily Mail

Rein men no more!

Especially significant in the context of Rane losing his chance of reigning and Deshmukh losing the reins!

Hits down the (you)tube?

According to this article, Youtube is all set to ban sexually explicit material from its site. Honestly, isn't that stuff half the hit count going by some of the Alexa ranking analysis? Ah well, Goliath's loss is David's gain.

Indian media - sullying fact

Barkha Dutt is the face of modern Indian news channels - brave but brash, mature but insensitive and worst of all, over anxious to get a newsbyte. I especially detested having to see her report after 26/11. In fact, the backlash against her and her industry was so large that she had to come out with this clarification. It isn't ridiculous, but borders on ordinary. Check out of one these lines for instance:

If we were indeed the obstacle, or the "disabling force" why did they have time for us in the middle of an operation?

Now, look at the video below. Does anyone really look like they are making time for Barkha Dutt?? Is anyone dying to give their interview? Is she in a hurry to move back?



More junk:

Wasn't it important to touch upon the human dimension and not just the military one?

For whom, the family members or the TV channels seeking high TRP's?

Yes, I agree, the media is not all bad, but they really need to get their act together and desist from these and other awfully desperate acts to gain more credibility. Creating viewer interest should not be synonymous with sensationalism, we have entertainment channels for that.

Believing in advertising

Wired writes:

Apple doesn't want you to believe what it says, even though the company claims it's not lying.

I know false advertising and all that, but isn't this going a little overboard? I mean, do you really believe an ad that says, "Twice as fast", and go measure the speed of the product to check if it really is exactly two times faster than whatever? Where do you draw the line, then? Just think what would happen in the following cases:

1. Unilever would be sued because Axe didn't cause hot girls to cling to unattractive, young men.
2. Coke would be sued for every warm bottle.
3. Perfetti would be sued for not lighting a bulb in your head.
4. Airtel would be sued for not breaking barriers.
5. Adidas would be sued because impossible really was something.
6. Dish TV would be sued because wishing didn't lead to dishing.

You get the picture...

Blog bucks

I am a fan of HuffPo, and I guess I'm not part of a small group. As if a sweet valuation of close to 100 mil wasn't enough, guess who's advertising on this news aggregations service? None other than the New York Times. That's knowing your competition! :)

We are back...

...old logo et al. Life must go on. Here's the one that we had during that awful week.


May the souls of those who passed away rest in peace. And may Citizen Ordinary be safe.

Movie Review - "Sorry, bhai!"

Now that we've resiliently moved on from the terrorist attacks, it's time to do a little movie review. Today we feature 'Sorry, bhai!'.

Bollywood has been getting bolder about challenging the value systems portrayed on screen so far, from extra-marital affairs, the Lolita style 'Nishabdh', the wildly controversial 'Fire', and even the boring 'Dostana'. Not that it's always a good thing, as some of these movies prove. 'Sorry, bhai!' is another movie that, at it's heart, challenges some fundamental 'values' that were the staple of Bollywood films for years.

The film is largely a flashback of a family comprising Sharman Joshi, Sanjay Suri, Chitrangada Singh (Va-va-voom!), Boman Irani, a couple of kids and a deceased mother. It starts out on a humorous note with Joshi, the mad scientist trying to prove the existence of tele-kinetic energy with the help of a plastic dog called 'Einstein'. His absent-minded-scientist forgetfulness and boyish acting is the source of much of the film's humor.

As the trailers show, this movie is obviously one of a younger brother doing something he's not proud of with his brother's fiancee. (Hence, the title 'Sorry, bhai!'). That is the only spoiler you'll read here. The heart of the movie is the nicely woven chemistry between the members of the dysfunctional family and the daughter-in-law to be, owing in no small part to the veterans Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi. Boman Irani is the typical happy dad, and Shabana does a great job of portraying a tough-as-nails mother with a softer side, but the movie brings out their weak and strong moments well, making them more human. The very hot Chitrangada Singh also does a good job of playing the 'Draupadi' of the film as someone in the audience pointed out. I take this opportunity to make a special mention for the loser who kept screaming his opinions throughout the movie. Fuck you. May your mouth be riddled with worms.

Speaking of negatives, the only problem I had with the film was the rather slow and lack lustre last forty-five minutes or so. It took away from the interaction between the characters and the songs seemed wrongly timed. There was a little too much boo-hoo-life's-so-tough for my liking and it certainly took the sheen off the enormous expectations that the first half built.

All, in all, I had a feeling that this would be a damp squib and the only reason I watched it was that I had a few hours to kill; it definitely exceeded my expectations which were rock bottom to start with. Worth a watch, for sure.

My rating: 6.5 on 10